MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Heading into Thursday night's game against Blue Mountain, Scott Sanderson's Faulkner basketball team had dropped four tough road games in the Southern States Athletic Conference. "Sometimes," the experienced head coach said, "you just have to step back and take a breath."

His Eagles were breathing just fine against the Toppers, and apparently doing most everything else pretty well too. Faulkner rolled to an 82-60 victory here at Tine Davis Gymasium. It wasn't that close, as the Eagles grabbed their first league win of the season.

"We shot the ball well and played with a lot of energy, but the thing I was most pleased with was how we played on the defensive end," said Sanderson, whose team improved to 7-10 overall and 1-4 in the SSAC. "In our last two games we didn't get in the defensive lanes we needed to be, and we just got sliced up. Tonight, for the most part, we did the things we needed to do on that end which led to good things on the offensive end."

Faulkner was shooting over 60 percent for the game until the final minutes, while Blue Mountain was below 30 percent for much of the night before a late flurry allowed the visitors to cut into what was a 31-point advantage midway through the second half. The Toppers (2-12 overall, 0-5 SSAC) finished the night at 38 percent, with the Eagles at 58 percent. The game at times appeared more like a 3-point shooting contest, with each team making 15 shots from behind the arc. In the second half both teams were exceptional on long-range shots, with Faulkner making 10-of-20 3-pointers and Blue Mountain 11-of-21.

The Eagles led by 22 at the half, and the Toppers never got closer than 21 the rest of the way. Di'mar Hill had 13 points and seven assists to pace the Faulkner effort. Logan Jozwiak and D.J. Boyd had 12 points apiece, while Nick Drake added 10. Eleven Faulkner players scored in the game, with eight players scoring five or more points. After a scoreless first half, Blue Mountain's Dominic Hudson made seven 3s in the final 20 minutes on his way to a 23-point night. DeAundre Smith was next with 19. Vladimir Filipovic added 10. 

Faulkner was solid on both ends of the floor in the opening 20 minutes, scorching the nets at a 61-percent rate while holding Blue Mountain to 21-percent shooting. Much of those numbers were a result of shot selection, with the Eagles outscoring the Toppers 18-0 in the paint. In the first half, Blue Mountain had no fast-break points, no points off Faulkner turnovers, no second-chance points and no points off the bench.

Hill had 11 points and Drake 10 in the decisive first half, as Monta Sanford scored inside to give the Eagles the lead and they never looked back. The margin grew to double figures on a Hill drive to the basket at the 10-minute mark, and things continued to go Faulkner's way the rest of the half. Sanderson's team took a 38-16 lead to the locker room at the break.

Faulkner welcomes SSAC rival William Carey to Tine Davis Gymnasium Saturday afternoon at 4 at Tine Davis Gymnasium.

"William Carey is really good at rebounding the basketball and taking it the basket, and those are the two things that have given us the most trouble," Sanderson said. "It will be a big challenge for us."